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S.C,  Bartlett 


Historical  Sketch 
of  the 
Missions  of  the  American  Board 

in 
India  and  Cevlon 


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BV  3265  .B36  1876 
Bartlett,  Samuel  Colcord, 

1817-1898. 
Historical  sketch  of  the 

missions  of  the  American 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH 


OF  THE 


MISSIONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD 


IN 


INDIA  AND  CEYLON, 


/ 


BT 


Rev.  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.  D. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED    BY  THE    BOARD, 

1  Somerset  Street. 

1876. 


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BARTLETT'S    SKETCHES. 


MISSIONS    IN    INDIA    AND    CEYLON. 

Henry  Martyn  knew  tlie  Hindoos  well ;  and  he  once 
gaid,  ^'  If  ever  I  see  a  Hindoo  a  real  believer  in  Jesus, 
I  shall  see  something  more  nearly  approaching  the  resur- 
rection of  a  dead  body  than  anything  I  have  yet  seen." 

But  God  knows  how  to  raise  the  dead.  And  it  was 
on  this  most  hopeless  race,  under  the  most  discouraging 
concurrence  of  circumstances,  that  he  chose  to  let  the 
first  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  try  their  fresh 
zeal. 

The  movements  of  commerce  and  the  history  of  pre- 
vious missionary  effort  naturally  pointed  to  the  swarming 
continent  of  Asia.  It  was  over  this  benighted  region 
that  Mills  brooded  at  his  studies.  The  British  Baptist 
mission  near  Calcutta  readily  suggested  the  particular 
field  of  India,  and  the  impression  was  deepened  by  the 
ardent  imagination  of  young  Judson.  His  mind  had,  in 
1809,  been  so  "set  on  fire "  by  a  moderate  sermon  of 
Buchanan's,  the  "  Star  of  the  East,"  that  for  some  days 
he  was  unable  to  attend  to  the  studies  of  the  class ;  and 
at  a  later  period,  a  now  forgotten  book.  Colonel  Symes's 
"  Embassy  to  Ava,"  full  of  glowing  and  overwrought 
descriptions,  stirred  him  with  a  fascination  for  Burmah 
which  he  never  lost.  The  Prudential  Committee  of  the 
Board  also  looked  to  the  Burman  Empire  because  it  was 


2  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

beyond  the  control  of  British  authority,  and  therefore  be- 
yond "  the  proper  province  of  the  British  Missionary 
Society." 

Judson  did  indeed  find  his  way  to  Burmah,  but  in  a 
mode  how  different  from  what  he  expected !  cut  adrift 
from  his  associates,  and  fleeing  from  British  authority. 
The  Board  established  this  mission,  but  in  a  place  and 
with  a  history  how  diverse  from  their  intentions  !  Man 
proposes,  but  God  disposes.  Bombay  became  the  first 
missionary  station. 

And  that  choice  band  of  young  disciples  —  God  had 
roused  their  several  hearts,  brought  them  together  from 
their  distant  homes,  and  united  their  burning  zeal,  to 
scatter  them  in  the  opening  of  their  labor.  There  was 
Mills,  given  to  God  by  his  mother,-  now  strengthening 
her  faltering  resolution  ;  there  was  Hall,  ready  to  work 
his  passage,  and  throw  himself  on  God's  providence,  in 
order  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  ;  there  was 
Judson,  ardent,  bold,  and  strong ;  and  Newell,  humble, 
tender,  and  devoted ;  there  was  Nott,  with  the  deep 
"  sense  of  a  duty  to  be  done  ;"  and  Rice,  whose  earnest 
desire  to  join  the  mission  the  Committee  "  did  not  dare 
to  reject ; "  and  there  was  the  noble  Ann  Hasseltine,  with 
a  heart  all  alive  with  •  missionary  zeal  before  the  Lord 
brought  Judson  to  her  father's  house  in  Bradford,  and 
the  young  Harriet  Atwood,  gentle,  and  winning,  and  firm, 
mourning  at  the  age  of  seventeen  over  the  condition  of 
the  heathen,  and  at  eighteen  joining  heart  and  hand  with 
Newell,  to  carry  them  the  gospel.  Of  all  this  precious 
band,  two  only.  Hall  and  Newell,  did  God  permit  to  bear 
a  permanent  part  in  that  projected  mission.  Mills  was 
to  die  on  mid-ocean,  in  the  service  of  Africa ;  Harriet 
Newell  was  to  pass  away  before  she  found  a  resting- 


MISSIONS   IN   INDIA.  3 

place  for  the  sole  of  her  foot ;  Nott  was  to  break  down 
with  the  first  year's  experience  of  the  climate  ;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Judson,  and  Mr.  E-ice,  were  to  found  another  great 
missionary  enterprise. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  1812,  the  Caravan  sailed 
from  Salem,  with  Judson,  and  Newell,  and  their  wives 
on  board ;  and  on  the  20th,  the  Harmony,  from  Philadel- 
phia, with  Nott,  and  Hall,  and  Rice  ;  the  one  vessel  go- 
ing forth  from  the  heart  of  Congregationalism,  the  other 
from  the  centre  of  Presbyterianism,  carrying  the  sym- 
pathies of  both  denominations.  They  sailed  through 
the  midst  of  the  embargo  and  non-intercourse ;  and  the 
note  of  war  with  England  followed  their  track  upon  the 
waters. 

Their  instructions  pointed  them  to  the  Burman  Em- 
pire, but  gave  them  discretionary  power  to  go  elsewhere. 
The  Burman  Empire  could  be  reached  only  through  the 
British  possessions,  and  both  vessels  were  accordingly 
bound  for  Calcutta.  But  the  British  authorities  in  India 
at  that  time  were  resolutely  opposed  to  Christian  missions. 
The  East  India  Company  professed  to  believe  that  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  would  excite  the  Hindoos  to  re- 
bellion, and  was  meanwhile  drawling  a  large  revenue 
from  the  protection  of  idolatry.  The  Baptist  mission- 
aries at  Serampore  had  felt  the  power  of  this  hostility, 
but,  being  British  subjects,  and  having  long  held  the 
ground,  could  not  be  dispossessed. 

But  the  spirit  of  hostility  had  of  late  been  kindled  up 
anew.  In  the  very  year  when  Mills  and  Rice  were 
founding  their  secret  missionary  society  at  Williams 
College,  Rev.  Sydney  Smith  was  stirring  up  the  British 
public,  through  the  enginery  of  the  Edinburgh  Review, 
against   the  British   mission  in  India.     He   opened  by 


4  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

insinuating  that  the  mutiny  at  Vellore  was  connected 
with  a  recent  increase  of  the  missionary  force  ;  he  con- 
tinued with  ridicule  of  "  Brother  Carey's"  and  "  Brother 
Thomas'  "  Journals,  and  closed  with  an  elaborate  argu- 
ment to  show  the  folly  of  founding  missions  in  India.  He 
argues,  first,  from  the  danger  of  insurrection  ;  secondly, 
from  "  want  of  success,"  the  effort  being  attended  with 
difficulties  which  he  seems  to  think  "  insuperable ;  " 
thirdly,  from  "  the  exposure  of  the  converts  to  great 
present  misery ;  "  and  fourthly,  he  declares  conversion  to 
be  "  no  duty  at  all  if  it  merely  destroys  the  old  religion, 
without  really  and  effectually  teaching  the  new  one."  In 
regard  to  the  last  point,  he  argues  that  making  a  Chris- 
tian is  only  destroying  a  Hindoo,  and  remarks  that  "  after 
all  that  has  been  said  of  the  vices  of  the  Hindoos,  we  be- 
lieve that  a  Hindoo  is  more  mild  and  sober  than  most 
Europeans,  and  as  honest  and  chaste."  Such  was  the  tone 
of  feeling  he  represented,  and  he  returned  next  year  to 
the  task  of  "  routing  out "  "  a  nest  of  consecrated  cob- 
blers." The  Baptist  missionaries  are  "  ferocious  Meth- 
odists "  and  "  impious  coxcombs,"  and  when  they  com- 
plain of  intolerance,  "  a  weasel  might  as  well  complain 
of  intolerance  when  it  is  throttled  for  sucking  eggs."  He 
declares  that  the  danger  of  losing  the  East  India  posses- 
sions "  makes  the  argument  against  them  conclusive,  and 
shuts  up  the  case  ;  "  and  he  adds,  that  "  our  opinion  of 
the  missionaries  and  of  their  employers  is  such  that  we 
most  firmly  believe,  in  less  than  twenty  years,  for  the 
conversion  of  a  few  degraded  wretches,  who  would  be 
neither  Methodists  nor  Hindoos,  they  would  infallibly 
produce  the  massacre  of  every  European  in  India."  To 
this  hostile  feeling  towards  missionaries  in  general  was 


MISSIONS    IN    INDIA.  5 

soon  added  the  weight  of  open  warfare  between  England 
and  America. 

The  Caravan  reached  her  destination  on  the  17th  of 
June.  Scarcely  had  the  first  warm  greetings  of  Christian 
friends  been  uttered,  when  the  long  series  of  almost  apos- 
tolic trials  began.  Ten  days  brought  an  order  from 
government,  commanding  the  return  of  the  missionaries 
in  the  Caravan.  They  asked  leave  to  reside  in  some 
other  part  of  India,  but  were  forbidden  to  settle  in  any 
part  of  the  Company's  territory,  or  its  dependencies. 
May  they  not  go  to  the  Isle  of  France  ?  It  was  granted. 
And  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newell  took  passage  in  the  first  ves- 
sel, leaving  their  comrades,  for  whom  there  was  no  room 
on  board.  Four  days  later  arrived  the  Harmony ;  and 
Hall,  Nott,  and  Rice  also  were  summoned  before  the 
police,  and  ordered  to  return  in  the  same  vessel.  They 
also  applied  for  permission  to  go  to  the  Isle  of  France  ; 
and  while  waiting  for  the  opportunity,  another  most  "try- 
ing event "  befell  them.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson,  after 
many  weeks  of  hidden  but  conscientious  investigation, 
changed  their  views,  and  joined  the  Baptists.  Four  weeks 
later  and  another  shock ;  Mr.  Rice  had  followed  Judson. 
"  What  the  Lord  means,"  wrote  Hall  and  Nott,  "  by 
thus  dividing  us  in  sentiment  and  separating  us  from  each 
other,  we  cannot  tell."  But  we  can  now  tell,  that  the 
Lord  meant  another  great  missionary  enterprise,  with 
more  than  a  hundred  churches  and  many  thousand  con- 
verts in  the  Burman  Empire. 

While  the  brethren  still  waited,  they  gained  favorable 
intelligence  of  Bombay,  and  especially  of  its  new  govern- 
or. They  received  a  general  passport  to  leave  in  the 
ship  Commerce,  paid  their  passage,  and  got  their  trunks 
aboard,  when  there  came  a  peremptory  order  to  proceed 
c 


G  SKETCHES   OP   THE    MISSIONS. 

in  one  of  the  Company's  ships  to  England,  and  their 
names  were  published  in  the  list  of  passengers.  They, 
however,  used  their  passports,  and  embarked  for  Bora- 
bay,  while  the  police  made  a  show  of  searching  the  city 
for  them,  but  did  not  come  near  the  vessel.  In  a  twelve- 
month from  the  time  of  their  ordination,  they  reached 
Bombay,  to  be  met  there  by  a  government  order  to  send 
them  to  England. 

"While  the  Commerce  was  carrying  Hall  and  Nott  to 
Bombay,  another  sad  blow  was  preparing.  Harriet 
Newell  was  dying  of  quick  consumption  at  the  Isle  of 
France.  Peacefully,  and  even  joyfully,  she  passed  away, 
sending  messages  of  the  tenderest  love  to  her  distant 
relatives,  comforting  her  heart-broken  husband,  and  ex- 
hibiting a  faith  serene  and  unclouded.  "  Tell  them  [my 
dear  brothers  and  sisters],  and  also  my  dear  mother,  that 
I  have  never  regretted  leaving  my  native  land  for  the 
cause  of  Christ."  "  I  wish  to  do  something  for  God  be- 
fore I  die.  But  ...  I  long  to  be  perfectly  free  from 
sin.  God  has  called  me  away  before  we  have  entered 
on  the  work  of  the  mission,  but  the  case  of  David  affords 
me  comfort.  I  have  had  it  in  my  heart  to  do  what  I  can 
for  the  heathen,  and  I  hope  God  will  accept  me."  She 
is  told  she  can  not  live  through  the  day.  "  O,  joyful 
news  !  I  long  to  depart."  And  so  she  departed,  calling, 
with  faltering  speech,  "My  dear  Mr.  Newell,  my  hus- 
band," and  ending  her  utterance  on  earth  with,  "  How 
long,  0  Lord,  how  long?"  And  yet  God  turned  this 
seeming  calamity  into  an  unspeakable  blessing.  Mr. 
Nott,  half  a  century  later,  well  recounts  it  as  one  of  the 
*'  providential  and  gracious  aids  to  the  establishment  of  the 
first  foreign  mission,"  and  remembers  "  its  influence  on 
our  minds  in  strengthening  our  missionary  purposes." 


MISSIONS    IN   INDIA.  7 

And  not  only  so,  but  the  tale  of  her  youthful  consecration, 
and  her  faith  and  purpose,  unfaltering  in  death,  thrilled 
through  the  land.  How  many  eyes  have  wept  over  the 
touching  narrative,  and  how  many  hearts  have  throbbed 
with  kindred  resolutions  !  "  No  long-protracted  life  could 
have  so  blessed  the  church  as  her  early  death."  Look 
at  one  instance.  The  little  town  of  Smyrna  lies  on  the 
Chenango  River  in  central  New  York.  It  had  neither 
church,  minister,  nor  Sabbath  school ;  and  never  had 
■witnessed  a  revival  of  religion.  The  Memoir  of  Harriet 
Newell,  dropped  into  one  woman's  hands  in  that  town, 
began  a  revival  of  religion  in  her  heart,  through  her 
house,  through  that  town,  and  through  that  region.  Two 
evangelical  churches  grew  out  of  that  revival.  Men 
and  women  who  were  born  again  at  that  time,  have 
carried  far  and  wide  the  power  of  the  cross  and  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  gospel.  On  the  Isle  of  France  there  still 
is  seen  a  stranger's  grave,  while  another  solitary  tomb 
may  be  seen  on  the  distant  Island  of  St.  Helena.  The 
one  formerly  contained  the  world's  great  Captain,  the 
other  holds  the  ashes  of  a  missionary  girl.  But  how  in- 
finitely nobler  that  woman's  life  and  influence  ! 

From  February  till  December,  Hall  and  Nott,  at  Bom- 
bay, were  kept  in  suspense,  and  even  in  expectation  of 
defeat.  The  Governor  of  that  Presidency  was  personal- 
ly friendly,  but  overborne  by  his  official  instructions. 
Twice  were  they  directed  to  return  in  the  next  vessel, 
their  names  being  once  entered  on  the  list  of  passengers, 
and  at  another  time  theii'  baggage  being  made  ready  for 
the  ship,  and  the  Coolies  waiting  to  take  it.  Again  and 
again  were  they  told  there  was  no  alternative,  till  all  hope 
had  passed.  Hall  had  made  his  final  appeal,  in  a  letter 
of  (\lmost  Pauline  boldness  and  courtesy,  in  which  he  bade 


8  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

the  Governor  "  Adieu,  till  we  meet  you  face  to  face  at 
God's  tribunal."  The  very  next  day  they  were  informed 
that  they  might  remain  till  further  instructions  were  re- 
ceived ;  and  in  due  time  they  gained  full  permission  to 
labor  in  any  part  of  the  Presidency.  The  Company  had 
yielded  to  the  powerful  influence  brought  to  bear,  not  only 
from  without,  but  from  within  their  own  body  at  home. 
When,  at  the  last  moment,  the  Court  of  Directors  were 
on  the  point  of  enforcing  their  policy,  a  powerful  argu- 
ment from  Sir  Charles  Grant,  founded  on  the  documents 
of  the  missionaries,  turned  the  scale.     India  was  open. 

Hall  and  Nott  were  soon  joined  by  Newell,  who,  bereft 
as  he  was,  and  for  a  time  supposing  that  his  comrades 
had  all  been  sent  back,  had  yet  resolved  to  labor  alone 
in  Ceylon. 

Bombay  thus  became  the  Plymouth  of  the  American 
mission  in  India ;  less  prominent  and  influential  than 
other  stations,  but  noted  as  the  door  of  entrance.  Here 
began  the  struggle  with  Hindooism  —  intrenched  as  it 
w^as  for  ages  in  the  terrible  ramparts  of  caste,  "  inter- 
woven throughout  with  false  science,  false  philosophy, 
false  history,  false  chronology,  false  geography,"  entwined 
with  every  habit,  feeling,  and  action  of  daily  life,  among 
a  people  prolific  in  every  form  of  vice,  and  demoralized 
by  long  inheritance,  till  the  sense  of  moral  rectitude  seemed 
extinct.  The  Hindoos,  in  some  instances,  charged  the 
missionaries  w^ith  having  written  the  first  of  Romans  on 
purpose  to  describe  their  ,  case.  Hindooism  was  aided, 
too,  in  its  recoil,  by  the  dealings  of  the  English  nation, 
who,  says  Sydney  Smith,  "  have  exemplified  in  our  public 
conduct  every  crime  of  which  human  nature  is  capable." 

In  itself,  Bombay  proved  one  of  the  most  discouraging 
of  all  the  stations  of  the  Board.    Sickness  and  death  kep/ 


MISSIONS    IN   INDIA.  9 

sweeping  away  its  laborers,  and  it  was  years  before  the 
first  conversion  of  a  Hindoo.  But  one  missionary  now  * 
resides  at  Bombay,  and  that  city  is  now  only  one  of  the 
seven  stations  of  the  Mahratta  mission  —  numbering 
some  forty  out-stations  and  thirty-one  churches,  with  a 
membership  scattered  through  a  hundred  and  forty  vil- 
lages. The  tremendous  strength  of  Hindooism  is  well 
exhibited  in  the  fact  that  up  to  the  year  1856,  the  total 
number  of  conversions  in  the  mission  was  but  two  hundred 
and  eighty-five  ;  and  the  sure  triumph  and  accelerating 
power  of  the  gospel  were  equally  well  expressed  in  the 
fact  that  for  the  next  six  years  the  conversions  were  near- 
ly twice  as  many  as  in  the  previous  forty,  and  that  never 
has  there  been  such  depth  of  interest,  and  so  numerous 
accessions  from  the  higher  castes,  as  during  the  last  few 
years.  The  seed-time  has  been  long  and  wearisome.  The 
full  harvest-time  is  not  yet  come.  But  Hindooism  is  felt 
to  be  undermined  ;  and  another  generation  may  witness, 
if  the  church  is  faithful,  such  revolutions  in  India  as  there 
is  not  now  faith  to  believe.  The  details  of  this  long  strug- 
gle, could  they  be  here  recounted,  would  present  a  record 
of  faithful  unfaltering  toil,  rather  than  of  striking  inci- 
dents. When  once  the  missionaries  were  admitted,  the 
strong  hand  of  British  power  became  their  protection. 
There  were  many  excitements,  and  there  were  sore  trials 
on  the  part  of  those  who  often  were  called  literally  to 
abandon  father  and  mother  for  Christ.  But  it  was  a  rare 
thing  when,  in  1832,  the  missionaries  were  hooted  and 
pelted  with  dirt  in  the  streets  of  Ahmednuggur,  and  their 
preaching  assemblies  broken  up. 

The  field  is  intrinsically  difficult,  and  this  mission  was 
the  first  experiment  of  the  Board.  Experience  has  led, 
within   the   last   few   years,   to   some    modifications   in 

*  1871. 


10  SKETCHES    OF   THE   MISSIONS. 

method,  from  which,  ia  connection  with  the  large  pre- 
paratory work  ah-eady  accomplished,  greater  results  may 
reasonably  be  looked  for.  Less  relative  importance  is 
attached  to  local  printing  and  teaching,  and  far  more  to 
itinerant  preaching  and  personal  intercourse.  Failure  to 
reach  the  women  was  found  to  be  not  only  a  great  ob- 
stacle to  rapid  progress,  but  the  cause  of  many  a  relapse. 
The  attempt  to  give  an  English  education  indiscriminate- 
ly in  the  schools  proved  to  be  more  than  unprofitable,  in 
a  missionary  point  of  view,  since  the  knowledge  of  Eng- 
lish often  became  an  inducement  to  abandon  the  mis- 
sionary. Perhaps  too  little  dependence  also  had  been 
placed  on  native  piety  to  maintain  its  own  institutions, 
and  organize  aggressive  movements.  These  things  have 
bejjun  to  receive  the  most  earnest  attention.  A  native 
pastorate,  missionary  tours,  self-support  of  the  churches, 
heavier  benevolent  contributions,  and  greatly  increased 
labors  by  women  among  the  women,  are  omens  of  a  time 
at  hand  when  the  gospel  in  India  shall  rest  upon  home 
forces  and  win  its  own  way. 

The  establishment  of  the  Mahratta  mission  at  Bombay 
was  followed  in  1816  by  the  mission  to  Ceylon,  among 
a  Tamil-speaking  people,  and  in  1834  by  the  Madura 
mission,  among  the  kindred  Tamil  people  on  the  Con- 
tinent. A  glance  at  these  three  regions  of  India  at  the 
present  time  would  show  at  the  Mahratta  mission,  cen- 
tring at  Ahmednugger,  some  forty-seven  stations  and  out- 
stations,  including  twenty-one  churches  with  six  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  communicants.  The  little  band  of  ten 
missionaries,  with  their  waives,  is  re-enforced  by  eleven  na- 
tive pastors,  three  preachers,  nine  catechists,  twenty-seven 
teachers,  fourteen  Bible  women,  and  twenty-four  other 
helpers.     While  the  church  members  themselves  are  scat- 


MISSIONS   IN   INDIA.  11 

tered  through  a  hundred  and  forty  villages,  an  organized 
system  of  itinerant  preaching  carried  the  gospel  message, 
in  1870,  to  many  hundred  villages  and  sixty  thousand  or 
seventy  thousand  hearers.  A  theological  class  of  six  is 
coming  forward,  the  church  members  are  beginning  to 
rally  in  earnest  to  the  support  of  their  ministry,  Bible 
women  are  working  their  way  into  the  families ;  and  it 
was  a  day  to  be  remembered  when  a  native  Christian 
Alliance,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  representative  men, 
was  lately  held  at  Bombay,  to  impress  upon  each  other 
the  duty  of  independent  labor  to  propagate  the  gospel  in 
India.  Their  discussions  were  earnest  and  practical,  and 
filled  with  "  evidences  of  deeper  feeling  than  was  ever 
seen  before  in  Bombay." 

But  the  struggle  of  the  gospel  in  this  region  must  still 
be  a  mighty  conflict.  The  laborers  are  few,  too  few  for 
anything  like  an  aggressive  movement.  The  Mahratta 
country,  of  which  Bombay  is  the  capital,  extends  three 
hundred  miles  on  the  coast  and  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  inland,  with  a  population  of  eleven  millions.  "What 
are  ten  missionaries  to  such  a  population?  They  are 
contending  with  ignorance  so  dense  that  but  five  persons 
in  a  hundred  can  read  at  all,  and  few  of  them  intelligent- 
ly. And  as  to  the  general  level  of  intelligence,  Mr.  Bis- 
sell  has  well  said,  "  The  Hindoo  knows  nothing  that  is 
worth  knowing,  and  what  he  thinks  he  knows  is  a  de- 
lusion ; "  "  false  geography,  false  astronomy,  false  his- 
tory," held  with  all  the  tenacity  of  false  religion.  They 
contend  with  a  caste-system  so  divisive,  that  not  only  the 
touch,  but  the  very  shadow,  of  a  Mahar  is  pollution  to  a 
Brahmin  ;  so  terribly  rigid,  that  when  Vishnupunt,  now 
pastor  at  Ahmednuggur,  became  a  Christian,  his  parents 
performed  funeral  rites  for  him.    Their  son  was  "  dead." 


12  SKETCHES    OP   THE    MISSIONS. 

They  contend  with  an  idolatry  dreadfully  benumbing  to 
the  mind  and  the  heart ;  that  burnt  widows  and  swung 
on  hooks  as  long  as  it  was  suffered ;  that  still  worships 
the  cobra  di  capello  and  the  crow  ;  that  reckons  it  as  great 
a  charity  to  preserve  the  life  of  an  animal  as  of  a  mau  ; 
that  actually  built  its  poorhouses  in  Bombay  for  super- 
annuated cows,  cats,  and  dogs,  but  never  a  poorhouse 
in  all  India  for  human  beings  ;  that  replies  to  the  preacher, 
"  A  full  stomach  is  my  heaven,"  and,  "  You  may  as  well 
play  on  a  lute  to  a  buffalo  ;  "  and  that,  even  when  con- 
vinced of  its  lost  condition,  could  come,  as  did  Yesoba, 
and  pour  its  bag  of  rupees  on  the  floor,  with  the  words, 
*'  Sahib,  take  this  money  and  give  me  salvation."  They 
contend,  too,  with  the  adverse  influence  of  a  corrupt 
European  civilization,  and  the  counter-agency  of  open 
European  infidelity,  which  has  its  organs  even  in  Bom- 
bay, and  which  often  fills  with  Deism  the  void  in  the 
mind  of  the  educated  Hindoo. 

But  with  all  this  they  have  fiaught  and  begun  to  con- 
quer. Yesoba,  with  his  bag  of  rupees,  found  the  Saviour, 
and  lived  and  died  in  the  faith.  The  Brahmin  and  the 
Mahar  drink  of  one  cup  in  the  Christian  church.  Mr. 
Bruce  records  with  wonder  the  change  he  found  in  the 
villages  of  Punchegav  in  1870.  Twelve  years  before,  the 
patilf  or  head  man,  ordered  the  missionary  out  of  the 
place  with  language  of  awful  foulness.  The  second  visit 
was  resisted  by  the  people  themselves  eii  masse.  On  a 
third  visit  three  missionaries  could  not  find  a  soul  to 
listen.  And  when  at  length  Harkaba,  an  honored  teacher, 
became  converted,  ''Beat  him,"  "Kill  him,"  "Bury  him," 
were  the  fierce  utterances  of  the  enraged  villagers.  They 
could  not  fulfil  their  threats  ;  but  they  often  made  old 
Harkaba  flee  into  the  jungle  to  weep  and  pray.    But  now 


MISSIONS   IN  INDIA.  13 

the  same  patil  gave  the  missionary  a  cordial  welcome, 
and  offered  to  give  the  little  church  a  piece  of  land  for 
a  chapel ;  an  evening  lecture  filled  the  "  rest-house  "  full 
of  people,  and  a  hundred  stood  outside.  This  is  certain- 
ly an  unusual  change.  But  there  is,  no  doubt,  a  steadily 
increasing  number  of  intelligent  natives,  who  feel  as  did 
one,  —  a  wealthy  and  influential  man,  —  whom  Mr.  Bis- 
sel  encountered  in  a  little  village  on  a  missionary  tour. 
"  Sahib,"  said  he,  "your  religion  is  true,  and  it  will  pre- 
vail in  this  land.  If  we  do  not  embrace  it,  our  children 
will ;  or  if  they  do  not,  their  children  will,  for  it  is  true 
and  must  prevail." 

A  little  group  of  eleven  churches,  with  five  hundred 
and  thirty  members,  occupy  the  northern  province  of 
Ceylon,  an  island  of  two  million  inhabitants,  once  swept 
over  by  Francis  Xavier  with  forty  thousand  so-called 
"  converts."  Here  is  the  region  where  Richards,  and 
Meigs,  and  Poor,  and  Scudder  began  their  missionary 
work,  and  where  Spaulding  has  faithfully  toiled  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  The  churches  lie  scattered  among 
the  rural  districts  and  the  cultivators  of  the  soil,  where 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  of  the  Jaffna 
province  are  provided  with  five  hundred  and  fifty  heathen 
temples,  holding  their  annual  festivals,  more  impressive 
with  pomp,  and  more  insnaring  with  vice,  to  that  sensual 
people,  than  can  well  be  conceived.  The  festivals  are 
Satan's  grand  gala-days,  and  the  temples  around  which 
they  gather  are  Satan's  stronghold.  It  has  been  mostly 
a  sappers'  and  miners'  work,  and  not  assault  and  storm. 
The  mission  began  at  Batticotta  and  Tilllpally,  in  the 
ruins  of  two  Portuguese  churches  older  than  the  settle- 
ment of  America,  and  at  Oodooville,  in  the  residence  of 
an  ancient  Franciscan  friar.     In  about  three  years  from 


14  SKETCHES    OF   TUE    MISSIONS. 

their  first  occupancy  began  (in  1819)  the  series  of  re- 
vivals, which,  in  the  early  history  of  this  mission,  carried  it 
steadily  onward.  They  were  frequent  in  the  schools.  It 
was  a  delightful  time  in  1824,  when  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  down  almost  simultaneously  on  the  schools  at.Til- 
lipally,  Oodooville,  Batticotta,  Manepy,  and  Paudeteripo. 
There  was  weeping  for  sins.  Tliere  was  praying  by  night 
in  companies  and  alone,  "  the  voice  of  supplication  heard 
in  every  quarter,"  out  in  the  garden  at  Pandeteripo,  each 
company  or  individual  "  praying  as  though  all  were  alone," 
and  coming  in  with  the  weeping  inquiry,  "  "What  shall 
we  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  Sixty-nine  were  thought  to  have 
found  the  Lord  at  that  precious  time.  More  than  once 
did  the  schools  at  Batticotta,  Oodooville,  and  Tillipally 
experience  these  simultaneous  revivals,  extending  also 
to  the  adult  population  of  the  towns.  Every  year  wit- 
nessed admissions  to  the  church,  rising  in  one  year  (1831) 
to  sixty-one. 

The  British  government,  though  admitting  the  first  few 
missionaries,  had  steadily  refused,  till  the  year  1833,  to 
permit  any  increase  of  their  number.  And  yet  the  little 
band  had  made  steady  progress.  In  a  dozen  years  from 
their  landing,  they  were  preaching  regularly  to  two  thou- 
sand hearers  on  the  Sabbath,  they  ware  hopefully  itinerat- 
ing in  the  villages,  and  they  had  forty-five  hundred  pupils 
in  their  ninety-three  free  schools,  their  boarding  schools, 
and  their  seminary  at  Batticotta.  They  had  gained  the 
hearty  co-operation  of  the  associate  justice,  and  other 
distinguished  gentlemen  of  Ceylon,  and  raised  their  semi- 
nary to  so  high  a  repute  that  where  once  it  was  difficult 
to  procure  a  pupil,  now  they  selected  their  entering  class 
of  twenty-nine  from  two  hundred  applicants.  In  1833, 
the  government  restriction  having  been  removed,  a  re- 


MISSIONS   IN    INDIA.  15 

enforcement  of  seven  missionaries,  including  a  physician 
and  a  printer,  arrived.  Their  coming  was  signalized  by 
the  establishment,  next  year,  of  a  mission  (the  Madura 
mission)  among  the  kindred  Tamil  people  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Converts  were  added  in  Ceylon  for  the  next 
three  years,  seventy-nine,  fifty-two,  forty-nine.  And  in 
1837,  with  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  free  schools, 
containing  seven  thousand  pupils,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
students  in  the  seminary,  and  ninety-eight  girls  in  the 
school  at  Oodooville,  and  a  rising  tide  of  respect  and  in- 
fluence all  around,  it  seemed  as  though  victory  was  or- 
ganized. 

But  that  year  brought  a  stunning  blow.     The  failure 
of  the  funds  from  America,  in  that  time  of  pecuniary 
trouble,  compelled  the  mission  to  disband  a  hundred  and   . 
seventy  schools,  to  dismiss  more  than  five  thousand  chil- 
dren, including  a  part  of  the  pupils  in  the  two  seminaries, 
to  stop  their  building,  curtail  their  printing,  and  cut  down 
to  the  very  quick.     Their  Sabbath  congregations  were 
nearly  broken  up,  all  their  activities  razeed,  their  spirits 
discouraged,  and  their  hearts  almost  broken.     It  was  a 
time  of  woe.     The  heathen   exulted.     Native   converts 
were   discouraged  and  led  astray.     Educated  and  half- 
educated   youth    were    snatched    away   from   under   the 
gospel,  and  often  worse  than  lost  to  the  cause.     And 
though  in  the  following  year  the  home  churches  were 
startled  into  furnishing  the   funds  once   more,  and  the 
mission   kept  thanksgiving  over  the  restoration,  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  it  has  ever  recovered  its  lost  head- 
way and  its  firm  hold  upon  the  country.     The  well-grown 
tree  had  been  pulled  up  by  the  roots.     May  such  havoc 
never  be  wrou^rht  a^ain. 

The  missionaries  experienced  another  great  shock  in 


10  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

1843,  when  they  discovered  the  old  Hindoo  leaven  break- 
ing out  in  the  Batticotta  seminary  in  such  falsehood  and 
gross  vices  as  necessitated  the  expulsion  of  sixty-one 
pupils,  including  the  whole  select  class,  and  the  dismis- 
sion of  several  native  teachers.  It  was  one  of  those  fear- 
ful pieces  of  surgery  which  the  constitutional  rottenness 
of  heathenism  may  sometimes  require.  Outwardly,  the 
wound  healed  over  in  a  year,  and  the  school  was  more 
flourishing  than  before. 

No  striking  events  have  occurred  within  the  last  few 
years.  Marked  revivals,  though  not  unknown,  are  less 
frequent  than  they  once  were.  The  novelty,  and,  per 
haps,  prestige  of  the  gospel  have  long  passed  by,  and  it 
takes  its  place  by  the  other  religions,  to  contend  for  the 
land  by  a  long-continued  struggle.  But  the  mission  is 
organized  for  work,  and  its  churches  are  in  a  transition 
state  toward  self-support.  Five  native  pastors,  three 
other  native  preachers,  fourteen  catechists,  and  seventy- 
eight  teachers  are  re-enforcing  the  missionaries ;  while 
the  Batticotta  "  Training  and  Theological  School,"  with 
its  twenty  students,  and  the  female  boarding  schools  at 
Oodooville  and  Oodoopitty,  with  seventy-six  pupils,  are 
raising  a  further  supply,  and  twenty-six  hundred  children 
are  gathered  in  the  village  schools,  which  are  now  aided 
and  partly  controlled  by  the  British  government.  All 
the  villages  of  the  province  are  now  accessible  to  the 
gospel,  and,  from  time  to  time,  many  of  them  are  visited 
by  the  missionaries,  or  by  native  preachers,  catechists, 
and  colporters,  going  from  house  to  house,  gathering 
congregations  when  they  can,  and  making  known  the 
truth.  Weekly  conferences,  and  mothers'  meetings  in 
the  churckes,  a  religious  paper  (The  Morning  Star),  and 
the  "  Native  Evangelical  Society,"  a  Board  of  Foreign 


MISSIONS    IN   INDIA.  17 

Missions,  with  its  "  annual  meetings  and  reports,"  and 
"  special  appeals  '*  for  an  occasional  debt,  crowned  with 
success,  its  chapel-buildings,  where  the  remaining  debt 
(as  at  Pungerative  last  year)  is  cleared  off  on  dedication 
day,  —  all  begin  to  remind  one  of  the  mother  country  on 
a  small  scale.  These  things,  with  the  increasing  depen- 
dence on  the  native  agencies,  and  the  movement  for  more 
effective  influence  upon  the  women  by  their  own  sex,  are 
pointing  forward  to  a  time  when  these  home  agencies 
shall  take  care  of  themselves.  The  missionary  force  is 
at  present  inadequate  to  the  best  economy  and  activity, 
and  formidable  foes  are  to  be  encountered.  A  tide  of 
educated  infidelity  also  increases  the  semblance  of  a  civil- 
ized land.  Thus  the  first  two  natives  who  received  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  at  Madras  University,  on  the  Continent, 
turned  against  Christianity.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
apparently  a  wide-spread  intellectual  conviction  of  its 
truth  among  those  who  refuse  to  submit  to  its  claims. 
The  posture  of  things  is  well  indicated  in  the  case  of  two 
persons  with  whom  Mr.  De  Riemer  had  a  recent  inter- 
view —  a  young  Brahmin  and  an  old  Sivite  priest  whom 
he  brought  with  him.  The  young  Brahmin  boldly  as- 
serts the  sin  and  folly  of  idolatry,  and  is  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  gospel,  but  cannot  gain  strength  to  cut 
the  cord  that  his  wife,  family,  and  rank  bind  around 
him,  and  come  out  for  Christ.  The  old  Sivite  priest  (or 
gooroo),  for  sixty  years  an  attendant  on  one  of  the  largest 
temples,  lamented  not  only  his  waning  star,  but  the  grow- 
ing neglect  and  disrespect  of  the  people  for  their  gooroos. 
And  when  asked  if  this  were  not  an  omen  of  the  day 
when  the  gospel  would  supplant  the  whole  religion,  he 
raised  both  hands  and  exclaimed,  "  Undoubtedly  !    Most 

D 


18  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

certainly  !    The  time  is  very  near  at  hand.     Only  a  few 
days."     Would  it  were  true.     But  the  end  is  not  yet. 

The  Madura  mission  embraces  the  "  Madura  Collec- 
torate,"  an  oblong  district  of  about  eighty-eight  hundred 
square  miles,  containing  a  population  of  some  two  mil- 
lions, scattered  through  nearly  four  thousand  villages,  and 
speaking  the  Tamil  language.  The  city  of  Madura  lies 
near  the  centre.  In  the  midst  of  this  population  eleven 
ordained  missionaries  and  a  physician,  with  their  wives 
and  other  ladies,  occupied,  in  1870,  thirteen  stations  and 
a  hundred  and  fifty  out-stations.  They  had  clustered 
round  them  twenty-eight  churches,  with  fourteen  hun- 
dred communicants,  including  eight  native  pastors,  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  catechists,  and  a  band  of  teachers. 
A  newly-formed  theological  school  at  Pasumalai,  with 
twenty-two  students,  is  raising  a  further  supply  of 
young  ministers,  preaching  as  they  study.  A  regularly 
organized  system  of  itinerant  preaching  has  in  one  year 
reached  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  villages  and  seventy 
thousand  hearers.  The  church  collections,  for  local  and 
other  purposes,  have  reached,  by  a  steady  increase,  thirty- 
two  hundred  rupees  a  year.  An  Evangelical  Alliance  is 
aiding  the  churches  toward  self-support.  Bible  women 
are  pleasantly  received ;  and  the  change  in  many  homes 
is  such  that  the  missionary  has  ventured  to  remind  his 
congregations,  that  once  they  had  "  donkeys  in  their 
houses,  but  now  friends  and  companions."  Opposition, 
and  even  downright  persecution,  are  not  wanting.  In  a 
village  near  Madura,  recently,  a  little  band  of  Christians 
were,  by  artful  accusations,  brought  eight  times  before 
the  police,  and  twice  lodged  in  jail.  But  "  stolid  in- 
difference "  is  the  chief  obstacle  —  utter  animal  life.  The 
signs  of  promise,  however,  are  not  few.     The  churches 


MISSIONS   IN   INDIA.  19 

are  more  effectually  reaching  the  higher  castes.  Mr. 
\Yashburn  reports  twenty-five  hundred  Bibles,  or  por- 
tions of  the  Bible,  sold  in  nine  years  around  the  station 
of  Battalagundu.  A  Brahmin  reported  that  the  income 
of  the  temple  at  Tirupuvanam  had  fallen  off  forty  per 
cent,  in  four  years.  The  persecution  near  Madura  oc- 
casioned a  meeting  of  the  friends  and  relatives  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  joining  the  persecuted.  And  in 
parts  of  the  field  occasional  facts  recall  the  scenes  of 
early  Jewish  and  of  later  Christian  lauds.  Mr.  Chandler, 
in  1870,  encountered  a  representative  of  Christ's  own 
hearers  in  a  man  of  w^ealth  and  high  caste,  who  has  read 
Christian  books,  and  will  build  a  school-house  for  a  Chris- 
tian school,  who  says  he  "  believes  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  would  embrace  it  but  for  certain  family  ties, 
from  which  he  cannot  now  break  away."  And  Mr.  Tracy, 
later  still,  found  in  Madura  just  such  persons  as  we  find 
at  home  —  young  men,  intelligent,  educated,  amiable, 
denouncing  the  follies  of  idolatry,  cordially  admitting 
Bible  truths,  acknowledging  even  their  own  sin,  but 
strenuously  refusing  Christ  and  an  atonement,  with  the 
declaration  that  "  repentance  was  the  only  atonement 
needful." 

In  view  of  this  state  of  things,  it  will  not  be  surprising 
if,  with  God's  blessing  and  a  sufficient  working  force,  the 
next  ten  years  shall  show  great  changes  in  this  field,  for 
which  the  church  has  great  encouragement  to  pray,  and 
look,  and  give.  Two  significant  facts  arrest  the  atten- 
tion :  More  than  four  fifths  of  these  church  members  have 
been  gathered  during  the  last  half  of  the  time,  and  they 
represent  twenty  different  castes. 

In  this  goodly  work  have  been  found  engaged  some  of 
the  choicest  spirits  that  the  church  has  seen  since  apos- 


20  SKETCHES    OP   THE    MISSIONS. 

tolic  times.  The  names  of  Hall,  and  Newell,  and  Poor, 
and  Scuddcr,  and  Meigs,  and  Iloisington,  and  Winslow, 
and  Ballantinc,  and  many  others  now  with  God,  are  names 
of  blessed  memory  and  holy  fragrance.  And  where  are 
the  like-minded  men  to  enter  in  and  finish  the  work?  It 
was  theirs  to  open  the  field  to  the  Christian  world :  who 
will  follow?  The  task  is  well  begun.  '^  There  will  prob- 
ably be,"  said  an  intelligent  observer,  "  a  long  prepara- 
tory work  in  India,  and  a  rapid  development." 

Hitherto  the  enterprise  has  been  carried  on  amid  dis- 
couragements, oppositions,  private  persecutions,  and  even 
poisonings  of  converts  ;  but  it  has  steadily  gone  forward. 
And  when  we  see  the  accelerated  motion  with  which  the 
gospel  is  now  pushing  its  way,  when  we  view  men  of  the 
higher  castes  coming  in  and  the  whole  fearfid  enginery 
of  caste  giving  way,  when  we  see  the  gathering  of  the 
Christian  denominations  toward  India,  and  listen  to  the 
confessions  of  the  Hindoo  organs  and  leaders,  we  some- 
times think  the  harvest  may  not  be  far  away. 

And  to-day,  over  against  the  despairing  cry  of  Martyn, 
and  the  dogged  assertion  of  Sydney  Smith,  we  will  put 
the  admission  of  the  Indu  FraJcash^  the  native  Bombay 
newspaper :  "  We  daily  see  Hindoos,  of  every  caste, 
becominsr  Christians  and  devoted  '  missionaries  of  the 
cross.'  "  And  so  far  as  figures  can  show  the  power  of 
a  movement  that  runs  deeper  than  all  figures,  ponder  the 
following  statistics,  carefully  compiled  in  1862.  In  the 
three  Presidencies  of  India  there  were  representatives 
of  thirty-one  missionary  societies  at  work,  aided  by  ninety- 
eight  ordained  native  preachers.  They  were  regularly 
dispensing  the  gospel  to  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
ninety  congregations,  besides  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  otlier  hearers ;  they  reckoned  a  hundred  and  thirty- 


MISSIONS    IN   INDIA.  21 

eight  thousand  registered  or  nominal  Christians,  of 
whom  thirty-one  thousand  were  communicants ;  they 
had  ninety  thousand  children  and  youth  in  attendance  on 
their  schools. 

These  facts  are  to  be  viewed  as  only  the  foundation, 
long  laid  in  silence  below  the  surface,  for  vastly  greater 
changes  yet  to  appear.  So  deep  is  the  hold  of  the  work, 
not  only  on  the  native  converts,  bat  on  the  foreign  resi- 
dents, that  the  churches  themselves  already  (18G7)  con- 
tribute twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year  ;  while  British 
residents  in  India  give  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  an- 
nually to  the  several  missionary  societies  in  that  country. 

And  could  the  witty  writer  of  the  Edinburgh  now  visit 
the  scene,  he  might  incline,  in  several  particulars,  to  modify 
his  judgment  of  1808 — -that  the  missionaries  "  would  de- 
liberately, piously,  and  conscientiously  expose  our  whole 
Eastern  empire  to  destruction,  for  the  sake  of  converting 
half  a  dozen  Brahmins,  who,  after  stuffing  themselves 
with  rum  and  rice,  and  borrowing  money  from  the  mis- 
sionaries, would  run  away,  and  cover  the  gospel  and  its 
professors  with  every  species  of  ridicule  and  abuse."  He 
might  be  glad,  also,  to  sum  up  his  case  a  little  differently 
than  thus  :  "  Shortly  stated,  then,  our  argument  is  this : 
We  see  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  success  ;  we  see  much 
danger  in  the  attempt,  and  we  doubt  if  the  conversion  of 
the  Hindoos  would  ever  be  more  than  nominal."  It  is  a 
marvelous  specimen  of  the  folly  of  this  world's  wisdom, 
and  a  strong  showing  how  God  hath  chosen  the  weak 
things  of  this  world  to  confound  the  mighty. 

Never  was  an  enterprise  begun  and  prosecuted  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  helplessness  without  God,  and  of  whole- 
souled  trust  in  his  power  and  his  promise.  Judson  has 
well  expressed  the  spirit  that  animated  all  his  comrades. 


22  SKETCHES    OF   TUE    MISSIONS. 

When  ho  had  been  three  years  at  his  post,  and  had  found 
neither  a  convert,  an  inquirer,  nor  an  interested  listener, 
he  could  write  thus  :  "  If  any  ask.  What  prospect  of  ulti- 
mate success  is  there?  tell  them,  As  much  as  that  there  is 
an  almighty  and  faithful  God.  ...  If  a  ship  was  lying 
in  the  river,  ready  to  convey  me  to  any  part  of  the  world 
I  should  choose,  and  that,  too,  with  the  entire  approba- 
tion of  all  my  Christian  friends,  I  would  prefer  dying  to 
embarking."  Two  years  more  witnessed  but  one  in- 
quirer—  yet  the  same  song  of  faith  and  hope  :  "  I  have 
no  doubt  that  God  is  preparing  the  way  for  the  conver- 
sion of  Burmah  to  his  Son.  This  thought  fills  me  with 
joy.  I  kuoAv  not  that  I  shall  live  to  see  a  single  convert ; 
but,  notwithstanding,  I  feel  that  I  would  not  leave  my 
present  situation  to  be  made  a  king." 

Such  was  the  dauntless  courage  that  led  the  first  For- 
eign Mission  of  the  American  churches ;  such  the  first 
handful  of  Christian  soldiers  that  deliberately  sat  down 
to  the  siege  of  all  India  —  to  whom  God  gave  the  victory. 
How  sublime  that  faith !  How  glorious  the  reward ! 
"  He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth,  bearing  precious 
seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing,  bring- 
ing his  sheaves  with  him."  Let  Christians  and  churches 
ponder  well  the  struggle  of  the  gospel  for  a  foothold  in 
India,  and  never  again  entertain  one  doubt  of  the  sacred 
promise,  "  Lo  !  I  am  Avith  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world." 

3farch,  1876. 

The  foregoing  sketch   was  prepared  in  1871,  and  the 

statistics  given  are  for  that  year,  —  of  course  not  correct 

as  matters  stand  now.    But  in  bringing  out  a  new  edition, 

it  is  thought  best  to  use  the  stereotype  plates  much  as  they 


MISSIONS    IN    INDIA.  23 

were  left  four  years  ago,  simply  appending  here  a  few  para- 
graphs, as  to  the  present  condition  of  the  missions. 

New  laborers  have  gone  to  each  of  the  fields.  The 
reinforcements  to  the  Mahratta  mission  have  been.  Miss 
Sarah  F.  Norris,  M.  D.,  in  1873 ;  Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume 
and  wife,  and  Miss  Martha  A.  Anderson  in  1874;  Wm. 
O.  Ballantine  M.  D.  and  wife.  Rev.  Edward  S.  Hume  and 
wife,  and  Rev.  Lorin  S.  Gates  and  wife,  in  1875.  Miss 
Elizabeth  Sisson  joined  the  Madura  mission  in  1872  ;  Rev. 
Messrs.  Wm.  S.  Howland  and  John  S.  Chandler,  with 
their  wives,  in  1873  ;  and  Rev.  M.  R.  Peck  and  wife  in 
1875.  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Howland  and  wife,  and  Miss 
Susan  R.  Howland  went  to  Ceylon  in  1873.  It  is  well 
worthy  of  notice  that  of  these  twenty  persons  eleven  are 
children  of  parents  who  are,  or  have  been,  connected  with 
these  missions,  namely,  the  three  Howlands,  the  two  Humes 
and  both  their  wives  (formerly  Miss  Burgess  and  Miss 
Chandler),  Dr.  Ballantine  (three  of  whose  sisters  had  be- 
fore returned  to  India  as  the  wives  of  missionaries),  Mr. 
Chandler  and  his  wife  (formerly  Miss  Minor),  and  Mrs. 
Gates,  formerly  Miss  Hazen.  Nine  of  the  laborers  now 
connected  with  the  Mahratta  mission  were  born  in  that 
field.  Educated  in  America,  they  have  returned  to  carry 
on  the  evangelizing  work  so  well  begun  by  their  parents. 

No  special  change  has  taken  place  in  the  character  or 
conditions  of  the  missionary  work  unless  a  decided  increase 
of  effort  among  women  may  be  regarded  as  such  a  change. 
In  these,  as  in  nearly  all  foreign  fields,  "  woman's  work 
for  woman  "  has  greatly  increased  of  late.  In  the  Mah- 
ratta field,  the  missionary  ladies,  as  a  native  pastor  testi- 
fies, "  without  neglecting  household  duties,  somehow  make 
time  for  this  work,"  and  "  it  is  owing  to  their  efforts  that 


24 


SKETCHES    OF    THE    MISSIONS. 


SO  many  women  are  brought  into  the  church."  In  the 
Madura  field  Miss  Sisson,  and  in  Ceylon  Misses  Hillis  and 
Howland  are  specially  engaged  in  this  department,  other 
ladies  of  the  missions,  and  native  "  Bible  women, "  also 
doing  much  in  the  same  work,  which  seems  to  be  indeed, 
as  Miss  Sisson  reports,  "  one  of  much  promise  ;  although 
it  is  but  recently  that  the  thick  veil  of  prejudice,  which 
hides  these  poor  heathen  women  from  our  missionary 
ladies,  has  been  lifted  at  all,  and  the  work  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy." 

All  the  missions  are  striving  to  bring  forward  a  better 
educated  native  agency,  by  means  of  boarding  schools  for 
girls,  and  seminaries,  and  theological  and  training  schools, 
or  classes  for  young  men.  The  Jaffna  College  (not  de- 
signed to  be  a  mission  institution  though  one  in  which 
the  mission  feels  a  deep  interest)  has  been  started  in 
Ceylon  with,  as  yet,  quite  insufficient  funds,  but  with  much 
of  promise  if  needed  funds  to  complete  a  very  moderate 
endowment  can  be  secured.  There  are  now,  in  the  three 
missions,  39  native  pastors,  while  about  120  other  natives 
are  engaged  as  preachers  and  catechists  in  evangelizing 
work. 

Additions  to  the  churches  by  profession,  during  the  last 
four  calendar  years  reported,  have  been  as  follows,  and 
show  gratifying  progress  :  — 


1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

Mahratta  Mission 

Madura  Mission 

Ceylon  Mission 

37 

117 

41 

76 

127 

27 

116 

123 

44 

126 

182 
80 

Totals 

195 

230 

283 

388 

MISSIONS    IN    INDIA. 


25 


The  following  table  presents  other 

STATISTICS    OF    THE    MISSION    IN    1875. 


« 

« 

00  "^ 

a 

o 

V 

r:  0) 

m 

a 

0) 

a    . 

> 

"5^ 

o 

1 

a 

a 

3 
O 

OS 

h 

on 

to 
o 

PhO 

II 

3 

S 

3.S 

as 
S.5 

"s-s 

PhQ 

Mahratta  Mission  .    . 

6 

.W 

11 

1 

1.1 

15 

.') 

99, 

23 

868 

inn 

965 

Madurst  Mission    .    . 

11 

US 

T^ 

1 

1« 

1- 

im 

l.W 

3-^ 

1880 

1.53 

114 

2,862 

Ceylon  Mission     .    . 

7 

12 

5 

1 

10 

7 

14 

30 

12 

679 

34 

92 

5,926* 

Total 

23 

216 

28 

3 

41 

39 

122 

2-2 

67 

3,427 

187 

306 

9,753 

It  may  be  well  to  present  here  a  few  statements  in 
regard  to  the  general  missionary  work  in  India  —  its 
progress  and  its  prospects, — by  quoting  briefly  from  an 
article  published  in  the  London  "  Quarterly  Review  "  for 
April,  1875,  and  also  from  a  more  recent  article  in  the 
"Foreign  Missionary,"  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  for 
January,  1876.     The  "Quarterly"  states:  — 

"  A  considerable  change  in  the  feelings  with  which  In- 
dian missions  are  regarded  has  recently  taken  place.  The 
emphatic  testimony  of  the  Indian  Government  in  their 
favor  has  already  produced  a  marked  effect  on  the  public 
mind,  an  instance  of  which  is  apparent  even  in  an  article 
on  '  Christian  Missions '  in  a  recent  number  of  the  '  West- 
minster Review,'  in  which  the  writer,  whilst  disparaging 
missions  in  general,  goes  so  far  as  to  admit  that  the  re- 
sults of  the  Indian  missions  '  constitute  the  most  brilliant 
page  in  the  whole  history  of  our  missionary  enterprise.* 

"  The  number  of  converts  in  connection  with  the  various 
Protestant  missions  in  India,  as  ascertained  -by  the  statis- 
tical returns  to  which  we  have  referred,  is  much  greater 

*  The  common  schools  connected  with  this  mission  are  now  under  the 
care  of  a  Board  of  Education,  and  are  not  strictly  mission  schools. 


26  SKETCHES    OF   THE    MISSIONS. 

than  it  was  expected  to  be.  When  the  results  of  this  re- 
lio-ious  census  were  made  known,  it  is  hard  to  say  whether 
the  friends  of  missions  or  their  enemies  were  most  sur- 
prised. The  total  number  of  native  Protestant  Christians 
in  1871  was  found  to  be  318,363 ;  of  whom  78,494  were 
communicants ;  the  number  of  native  ordained  ministers 
was  381 ;  and  the  amount  of  money  contributed  by  native 
Christians  alone,  for  religious  and  charitable  purposes,  was 
£15,912.  What  is  still  more  remarkable  is  the  rapidity 
and  steadfastness  of  the  ratio  of  increase.  During  the  ten 
years  previous  to  1861  the  rate  of  increase  was  53  per 
cent.  During  the  ten  years  previous  to  1871,  the  rate  of 
increase  rose  to  61  per  cent.  During  this  last  period  of 
ten  years,  the  increase  in  the  number  of  converts  amounted 
to  no  fewer  than  85,430  souls  in  India  proper  alone." 

The  "Foreign  Missionary"  says,  January,  1876:  "  To- 
day the  missionary  work  is  carried  on  in  India  and  Ceylon 
by  thirty-five  missionary  societies,  besides  local  agencies. 
In  the  different  Presidencies  are  500  ordained  missiona- 
ries, occupying  more  than  400  stations  and  over  2,000 
sub-stations,  the  latter  chiefly  manned  by  native  laborers." 
After  giving  various  statistics  of  the  work,  it  adds :  — 

"  These  results  of  missionary  labor  are  great  and  wonder- 
ful, but  other  changes,  through  the  pressure  of  Christian 
sentiment  and  the  power  of  truth,  have  taken  place.  In 
1825  the  Government  abetted  idolatry,  and  sought  no 
alliance  with  Christianity.  It  husbanded  the  endowments 
of  temples  and  mosques  ;  it  supplied  funds  from  its  treasury 
for  repairing  temples  and  roads  to  sacred  places ;  it  taxed 
pilgrims,  and  endowed  schools  for  the  teaching  of  error 
and  superstition.  Then  infanticide  abounded ;  Suttees 
flourished ;  bloody  rites  were  practiced.     Then  no  Chris- 


MISSIONS   IN   INDIA.  27 

tian  convert  could  obtain  his  rights  in  regard  to  property. 
These  and  kindred  evils  existed.  Now  all  is  changed. 
Government  protects  and  aids  missionary  operations ;  it 
has  cut  itself  loose  from  all  connection  with  idolatry  ;  in- 
fanticide is  declared  a  criminal  act ;  Suttee  is  prohibited ; 
and  cruel  rites  have  been  forbidden.  The  Koran  and  the 
Ganges  water  are  banished  from  the  courts  of  justice. 
Converts  are  protected  in  their  rights,  and  the  legal  va- 
lidity of  widows  re-marrying  is  proclaimed.  Hindooism 
is  losing  its  hold  upon  the  many,  and  the  idea  is  growing 
that  it  must  disappear  under  the  power  of  Christianity. 
There  is  an  enlarging  circle  that  has  broken  with  Brahmin- 
ism,  though  not  yet  yielding  openly  to  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  Signs  of  improvement  —  material,  social,  intellect- 
ual, and  moral  —  fill  the  land.  The  natives  are  awaken- 
ing from  the  sleep  of  ages ;  the  desire  for  sound  knowl- 
edge is  growing.  Caste  is  relaxing.  Stereotyped  customs, 
that  have  been  more  powerful  than  law,  are  disappearing. 
A  knowledge  of  the  Bible  is  speading,  its  precepts  are 
becoming  more  influential,  and  the  truth  is  working  won- 
ders among  the  aborigines,  who  never  yielded  to  Hindoo 
or  Mohammedan  influence,  but  are  now  accepting  joyfully 
the  doctrines  of  the  Cross. 

"  Christianity  has  obtained  a  firm  footing.  Its  ambas- 
sadors are  alive  to  the  importance  of  its  dissemination, 
and  are  increasing  in  numbers  and  skill.  Native  churches 
have  been  planted  all  over  the  land,  and  these  are  becom- 
ing more  potential  for  good." 


28 


SKETCHES    OF    THE    MISSIONS. 


MISSIONARIES,  1876. 


Mahratta  Mission. 


Rev.  Samuel  B.  Fairbank 
Mrs.  Mary  B.  Fairbank 
Rev.  Allen  Hazen,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Martha  R.  Hazen 
Rev.  Lemuel  Bissell,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Bissell    . 
Rev.  Charles  Harding     • 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  D.  Harding 
Rev.  Henry  J.  Bruce 
Mrs.  Hepzibeth  P.  Bruce 
Rer.  W.  H.  Atkinson     . 
Calista  Atkinson 
S.  R.  Wells     . 
Mary  L.  Wells     . 
Charles  W.  Park    . 
Anna  M.  Park 
Richard  Winsor 
Mary  C.  Winsor  . 
Miss  Harriet  S.  Ashley   . 
Miss  Sarah  F.  Norris,  M.  D 
Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume    . 
Mrs.  Abbie  S.  Hume   . 
Miss  Martha  A.  Anderson 
William  0.  Ballantine,  M 
Mrs.  Alice  C  Ballantine 
Edward  S.  Hume 
Charlotte  E.  Hume 
Lorin  S.  Gates     . 
Frances  A.  Gates    . 


Mrs 
Rev 
Mrs 
Rev 
Mrs. 
Rev 
Mrs, 


Rev 

Mrs. 
Rev, 
Mrs. 


D. 


Madura  Mission 


Rev.  William  Tracy,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Emily  F.  Tracy  . 
Mrs.  Martha  S.  Taylor.  . 
Rev.  John  Rendall 
Rev.  James  Herrick 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  H.  Herrick 
Rev.  John  E.  Chandler   . 
Mrs.  Charlotte  H.  Chandler 
Rev.  Thomas  S.  Burnell 
Mrs.  Martha  Burnell    . 
Rev.  Joseph  T.  Noyes     . 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Noyes 
Rev.  W.  B.  Capron 
Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Capron 


1846 
1856 
1846 
1846 
1851 
1851 
1856 
1869 
1862 
1862 
1867 
1867 
1869 
1869 
1870 
1870 
1870 
1870 
1871 
1873 
1874 
1874 
1874 
1875 
1875 
1875 
1875 
1875 
1875 


1836 

1844 
1845 
1845 
1845 
1845 
1845 
1848 
1848 
1848 
1848 
1856 
1856 


Station. 


Ahmednuggur. 

Bombay. 

Ahmednuggur. 

Sholapoor. 

Satara. 

Sholapoor. 

Bhuing. 

Bombay. 

Satara. 

Bombay. 
Bombay. 
Ahmednuggur. 

Ahmednuggur. 
Rahoori. 

Ahmednuggur. 

Sholapoor. 


Tirupuvaaam. 

Mandapasalai. 
Battalagundu. 
Tirumangalam. 

Madura. 

Melur. 

Periakulam. 

Mana  Madura. 


MISSIONS    IN   INDIA. 


29 


MISSIONARIES,  1876. 


Rev.  Edward  Chester     . 
Mrs.  Sophia  Chester     . 
Rev.  George  T.  Washburn 
Mrs.  Eliza  E.  Washburn 
Miss  Martha  S.  Taylor    . 
Miss  Mary  E.  Rendall 
Miss  Elizabeth  Sisson 
Rev.  William  S.  Howland 
Sirs.  Mary  L.  Howland  . 
Rev.  John  S.  Chandler 
Mrs.  Jennie  E.  Chandler 
Rev.  Marshall  R.  Peck 
Mrs.  Helen  N.  Peck 


Ceylon  Mission, 

Miss  Eliza  Agnew 
Rev.  William  W.  Howland 
Mrs.  Susan  R.  Howland 
Rev.  Eurotas  P.  Hastings 
Mrs.  Anna  Hastings    . 
Samuel  F.  Green,  M.  D. 
Mrs.  Margaret  W.  Green    . 
Miss  Harriet  E.  Townshend 
Rev.  William  E.  De  Riemer 
Mrs.  Emily  F.  De  Riemer 
Miss  Hester  A.  Hillis 
Rev.  Thomas  S.  Smith   . 
Mrs.  Emily  M.  Smith 
Rev.  Samuel  W.  Howland 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  K.  Howland 
Miss  Susan  R.  Howland 


Went 
Out. 


1858 
1858 
1860 
1860 
I8G7 
1870 
1872 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1875 
1875 


1839 
1845 
1845 
1846 
1846 
1847 
1862 
1867 
1868 
1868 
1870 
1871 
1871 
1873 
1873 
1873 


Station 


Dindigul. 

Pasumalai.  ^ 

Mandapasalai. 
Battalagundu. 
Madura. 
Mandapasalai. 

Madura. 


Ooodooville. 
Tillipally. 

Batticotta. 

Manepy. 

Oodoopitty. 
Chavagacherry 

Manepy. 
Oodoopitty. 

Oodooville. 

Manepy. 


THE  MISSIONARY  HERALD; 

A  Monthly  Magazine  of  32  pages  octavo ;  the  organ  of  the  American 
Board.  Price,  $1.00  a  year.  Orders  for  this  publication  should  be  ad- 
dressed, — 

Mr.  CHARLES   HUTCHINS, 

No.  I  Somerset  Street,  Boston. 

LIPE   AND   LIGHT  POR   HEATHEN  WOMEN; 

A  Monthly  Magazine,  published  by  the  Woman's  Board  of  Missions. 
Price  50  cents  a  year.     Letters  relating  to  this  should  be  addressed, — 

SECRETARY   WOMAN'S   BOARD    OF   MISSIONS, 

No.  1  Somerset  Street,  Boston. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 
The  Corresponding  Secretaries  of  the  Board  are  Rev.  Selah  B.  Treat 
and  Rev.  N.  G.  Clark,  D.  D.    Letters  relating  to  the  Missions  and 
General  Concerns  of  the  Board,  may  be  addressed 

SECRETARIES    OF  THE  A.  B.  C.  F.  M., 

No.  1  Somerset  Street,  Boston. 

Donations  and  letters  relating  to  the  Pecuniary  Concerns  of  the  Board 
(except  letters  on  the  subject  of  the  Missionary  Herald)  should  be  ad- 
dressed 

LANGDON   S.  WARD,  Treasurer  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

No.  1  Somerset  Street,  Boston. 

Letters  for  the  Secretaries  of  the  Woman's  Board  may  be  addressed 
SECRETARY  WOMAN'S  BOARD   OF  MISSIONS, 

No.  1  Congregational  House,  Boston. 

Letters  for  the  Treasurer  of  the  Woman's  Board  should  be  addressed 
Mrs.  BENJAMIN  E.  BATES, 

No.  1  Congregational  House,  Boston. 


Books  Concerning  Missions  and  Missionari 


Tho  following  Books,  many  of  them  suitable  for  Sunday  S( 
Libraries,  may  be  obtained  by  mail,  postage  paid,  through  the  Offi' 
the  Missionary  Herald 


Memorial  Volume  of  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

By  Dr.  Anderson $1.25 

Foreign  Missions.     By  R.   Anderson, 

D.  D.,  LL.  D 1.25 

History  of  the  Sandwich  Itilands  Mis- 
sion.   By  Dr.  Anderson 1.50 

History  of  the  Missions  of  the  American 
Board  to  the  Oriental  Churches.  2 
vols.  By  Dr.  Anderson.  Per  vol.  •  1.50 
History  of  the  Missions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  in  India.  By  Dr.  Ander- 
son   1.50 

Life    in    India.      By    Caleb    Wright, 

A.  M 1.75 

Woman  and  her  Saviour  in  Persia.  By 

Rev.  T.  Laurie,  D.  D 1.25 

Zulu  Land.  By  Rev.  Lewis  Grout  .  2.00 
Five  Years  in  China  :  or,  Life  of  Rev. 

AVilliam  Aitchison 1.25 

Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands.    By  Rev. 

Isaac  Bird 1.50 

Tenuessean  in  Persia 1.75 

Ten  Yeai'S  on  the  Euphrates.   By  Rev. 

C.  H.  Wheeler 1.25 

Letters  from  Eden.    By  Rev.   C.   H. 

Wheeler 1.25 

Missions  and  Martyrs  in  Madagascar  .  .80 
The  Gospel  among  the  Caftres  ...  .85 
Scenes  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  .     .     .1.25 

Missionary  Sisters 1.25 

The  Morning  Star 1.00 

The  Missionary  Patriots.    By  Rev.  I. 

N.  Tarbox 1.25 

Life  Scenes  among  the  Mountains  of 

Ararat.     By  Rev.  M.  P.  Parmelee     .  1.25 
Faith   AV'orking  by  Love :  Memoir  of 

Miss  Fiske 1.75 

Tah'-koo  Wah-kan  ;  or,  the  Gospel 
among  the  Dakotas.    By  Stephen  R. 

Riggs,  A.  M 1.50 

Lectures  to  Educated  Hindus.    Prof. 

Julius  II.  Seelye 1.00 

Christian  Missions.    Prof.  Seelye    .     .  1.25 
The  Martyr  Church  of  Madagascar      .  2.00 
Memorials  of   Charles  Stoddard.     By 
his  Daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Stoddard 

Johnson 1.75 

Heroes  of  the  Desert ;  Lives  of  Moffatt 
and  Livingstone,  and  Sketches  of 
Missionary  Explorations  in  Africa, 
by  the  Author  of  Mary  Powell's 
Diary 1.25 


The  Arabs  and  The  Turks,  their  pas 
history  and  present  condition,  witi 
Special  view  to  Mi.ssionary  labor; 
among  them.  By  Rev.  Edson  L 
Clark     

Grace  Illustrated,  or  a  Bouquet  fron 
the  Missionary  Garden,  by  Mr.  anc 
Mrs.  C.  IL  Wheeler,  llarpoot,  Tuvkej 

Uncle  Ben"s  Bag,  and  How  it  is  Neve' 
Empty.    26  pp 

Light  on  the  Dark  River     .... 

Our  Life  in  China.     By  Mrs.  Nevius 

Africa's  Mountain  Valley  .... 

Memoir  of  Henry  Lyman   .... 

The  AVeaver  Boy  who  became  a  Mis 
sionary  (Dr.  Livingstone)    .     .     . 

Romance  of  Missions,  or  luside  View; 
of  Life  and  Labor  in  the  Land  c 
Ararat.    By  Miss  JIaria  A.  West  . 

The  Land  and  the  Book.  By  Dr.  Thorn 
son • 

Social  Life  of  the  Chinese.  By  Rev 
J.Doolittle 

China  and  the  Chinese.   By  Dr.  Neviu 

South  Africa,  Missionary  Travels  an 
Researches  in.  By  Rev.  D.  Living 
stone,  LL.D 

Bible  Lands:  Their  Modem  Custom 
and  Manners  Illustrative  of  Scri{ 
ture.  By  Rev.  Henry  J.  Van  Lei 
nep,  D.  D.    Cloth 

The  Jliddle  Kingdom.  By  S.  Wei: 
Williams,  LL.  D 

The  Cinnamon  Isle  Boy      .... 

Tales  about  the  Heathen    .... 

Memoir  of  Henry  Obookiah    .     .     . 

IJartimeus 

The  Night  of  Toil 

The  White  Foreigners  from  over  tt 
Water 

Kardoo;  or,  the  Hindoo  Girl  .     .     . 

Dr.  Grant  and  the  Mountain  Nestoriai 

Twelve  Years  with  the  Children.  B 
Rev.  William  Warren,  D.  D.     .     . 

These  for  Those  :  Our  Indebtedness 
Missions  ;  or,  What  we  Get  for  AV^h 
we  Give.   By  Rev.  W.  AVarren,  D. 

Forty  Years  in  the  Turki.sh  Empin 
or  Memoirs  of  Rev.  William  Goode) 
D.  D.,  late  Missionary  of  the  A.  B. 
F.  M.,  at  Constantinople.    By   t 
son-in-law,  E.  D.  G.  Prime,  D.  D. 


;^PHIET  BINDER 

: -_    Syrocuse,  N.   Y. 

IZZr    Stockton,  Cai;f. 


DATE  DUE 


— -- 

a  ^mmmrn^^.. 

y 

V 

HIGHSMITH  #45 

230 

Printed 
In  USA 

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p. 111.  rl.in    Th 


1    1012  01060  6830 


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